COMMUNICATIONS

Zoom Call Is the New Will Call

Like your dorm room when your roommate’s high school friends are in town, Zoom has been tasked with hosting way more than it bargained for. During the pandemic, everything from weddings to concerts made the transition from IRL to Zoom, so yesterday the company doubled down on its newfound identity.  

Tickets, please 

Zoom is getting into online ticketed events with a new platform called OnZoom. Event hosts will have a wider range of tools available and, most importantly, they’ll be able to charge for events. Consumers can use OnZoom to browse classes, concerts, and workshops to attend.

• It’s got some competition: Live Nation, EventBrite, and other platforms that make money by taking a cut of ticket sales have also invested heavily in virtual events in the past few months. Zoom is initially holding off on monetizing in a similar manner, but did say it would take a portion of event sales down the road.

OnZoom will also be competing with Airbnb's “experiences.” Since 2016, the house-sharing giant has offered services that match visitors with activities, like tours or cooking classes, while traveling. But after those offerings shifted online early in the pandemic, most of them to Zoom, consumers might decide to skip Airbnb altogether in favor of OnZoom if the platform’s curation is up to snuff.

But Zoom can play nice with others, too

Yesterday, it also announced plans to allow third-party apps to run on its platform. Zoom has certainly scratched an itch for many businesses adapting to the new normal, but it thinks more hands = better scratching. 

• Enter “Zapps,” app offerings from the likes of Salesforce and Slack that can integrate directly into Zoom’s software. Zoom wants these Zapps to facilitate the sharing of ideas and generally enhance the core video experience that propelled its meteoric rise. 

Bottom line: Zoom has entered attack mode, working to strengthen its grip on the massive audience it was gifted by the pandemic. 

INTERNATIONAL

Europe Rides a Second Wave

This week, Europe’s daily rolling average of Covid-19 infections reached 78,000, surpassing the U.S. To tamp down the spike, governments are implementing new curbs on everyday life. 

French president Emmanuel Macron declared a state of emergency and instituted a curfew (9pm to 6am) for the country’s biggest cities—affecting nearly a third of the population. Economists say prolonged restrictions could shove the country back into the recession it experienced in the spring. 

Northern Ireland is closing pubs and restaurants for all but takeout, plus schools and many other businesses. 

The UK closed bars and pubs in its most heavily affected areas. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing attacks for what critics call uncertainty and confusion caused by the government’s three-tiered lockdown system. 

The Netherlands will partially lock down for at least four weeks. 

Cristiano Ronaldo, the soccer megastar, tested positive.

Bottom line: European leaders are desperately trying to avoid full lockdowns like they implemented in the spring, but a second wave is backing them into a corner. 

SPORTS

The SEC Starts to Sweat

Nick Saban, head coach of the No. 2 ranked Alabama football team, has tested positive for Covid-19, the school announced yesterday. He's self-isolating at home while offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian takes the reins ahead of the team's matchup with No. 3 Georgia on Saturday. 

The news comes while another SEC school, Florida, is dealing with its own outbreak. After 19 Gators tested positive, it suspended football activities and postponed its game with LSU.

Bottom line: Big-name schools like Alabama and Florida were desperate to start their seasons and capture some of the revenue generated by their football programs. They'll hope this is a blip, not a trend. 

SPONSORED BY SLACK

An Inside Look at the Brew’s Slack

The following is a transcript of a conversation in #brewcrew, the Slack channel Morning Brew uses to discuss IMPORTANT company-wide stuff.

Henry, Copywriter: This Slack channel makes it so easy to communicate with the whole team.

Blake, Creative Director: Can you imagine if we all had to email?! Slack channels are so much faster, better organized, and secure!

Sasha, Brand Partner: That’s what I was gonna say, Slack is basically our company HQ, especially now that I’m in Rancho Cucamonga and Sydney's visiting her Polish grandma.

Sydney, yet another Copywriter: She’s called a Babcia.

Alessandra, Integrated Marketing: Well tell your grandma that Slack lets you access info from thousands of apps, files, and make calls all within THIS OR ANY OTHER CHANNEL!

Neal, Managing Editor: Are u guys trying to turn our Slack into an ad?

Henry, Copywriter: What? No, we’re just saying, Slack is where work happens.

Neal, Managing Editor: This is def an ad.

Henry, Copywriter: If this was an ad, then at the end, wouldn’t I tell you to click here to learn more about how Slack is the new digital headquarters???

SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter, Facebook Draw Heat for Limiting Biden Story

Yesterday, Facebook and Twitter decided to limit the distribution of a New York Post story about Joe Biden out of concern that it might be misinformation, sparking outcry from conservative lawmakers and raising questions around their content moderation policies. 

• The Post's story alleges then-Vice President Biden’s son Hunter Biden attempted to make introductions between his father and an exec at a Ukrainian company. 
• The Post claims it obtained “smoking gun” emails, but the platforms had questions around the authenticity of the story. 

The two companies made the same decision, but for different reasons. Twitter cited its policy against distributing hacked material, while Facebook said the story is “eligible to be fact checked” by third-party partners and will be curtailed until it’s been vetted. 

Zoom out: Facebook has long refused to be an “arbiter of truth”—but it seems to be arbiting something here. President Trump attacked both companies in a tweet last night, calling their actions "so terrible." 

Later in the evening, Twitter explained its reasoning a bit more, saying it was the images in the article that violated its hacked material rules. CEO Jack Dorsey said the company's decision to block URL sharing without context was "unacceptable."  

REAL ESTATE

He's Back

Former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann and his luscious locks have returned to the biz world. Real estate startup Alfred announced yesterday that Neumann’s family investment office led its most recent $42 million round. 

• Alfred offers services to apartment buildings, such as dog walking and rent processing. It’s operating in over 100,000 apartments and has almost $100 million in the bank.

Zoom out: WeWork’s implosion was the business news story of 2019. A little over a year ago, the startup filed to go public at a jaw-dropping $47 billion valuation...but in doing so, opened its books to reveal fishy governance and fishier accounting. The IPO was scrapped, as was Neumann, and the company is now valued at $2.9 billion. 

Speaking of...WeWork’s parent company, The We Company, said yesterday it will return to the “WeWork” name, a symbolic nod to its office-rental roots. Like much of commercial real estate, WeWork was crushed during the pandemic, with huge vacancies leading to mass layoffs. It’s still bleeding cash, but CEO Sandeep Mathrani said it will turn a profit by the end of next year.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Bank earnings roundup: Goldman Sachs’s trading revenue boomed, Bank of America fell short, and Wells Fargo is still struggling to cut costs.  
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote a letter to Disney execs, blasting them for restoring executive pay while laying off tens of thousands in the theme parks division.
• Robinhood is considering making its trading data public again, per Bloomberg.
• The Vatican’s financial scandal continued to grow with the arrest of a woman who said she was given money by a cardinal to conduct secret missions in Africa.
• Tesla is cutting its Model S price to $69,420. 

BREW'S BETS

7 signs of a lagging metabolism. The wellness experts at Sakara have put together this helpful article that can help you identify 7 signs of a slowing metabolism—and how to fix them. Read on to see what you can do, and how Sakara’s Metabolism Super Powder can help.*

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Crispy water...or superior lettuce? The online culinary elite is shutting down cold takes about iceberg lettuce this week, but we think all leaves are great—except arugula. Here’s a Twitter thread on some salad-making basics, an infographic for making dressing, and a viral hack for chopping garlic.

• More recipes: Pickle or chill iceberg, recreate a Sweetgreen harvest bowl with kale, or use this recipe generator to mix up whatever’s left in your fridge.

Challenge: How many major logos can you draw from memory? 

Library jamz: This song about library takeout is perhaps Duke University's finest accomplishment.

^{*This is sponsored advertising content}

FROM THE CREW

How to Succeed in Business?

Michael Seibel knows. He's partner at Y Combinator and CEO of the YC startup accelerator program, so basically the principal of Silicon Valley’s unicorn finishing school.

In a recent episode of our podcast Business Casual, he explains what it takes to catch the eye of the wealthiest backers in tech. Check it out. 

GAMES

Nutritional Facts

Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Caffeine, Niacinamide, Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine HCI, Vitamin B12, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Colors.

That's the ingredient list for which product? 

NUTRITIONAL FACTS ANSWER

Red Bull. Yes, you were so close!